I had to laugh at my mate who has that same model on his Santa Cruz Tallboy. At the Mont 24 last month, it was so cold on the night laps (very low single digits if not freezing) that his seatpost got stuck in the down position, until it warmed up after sunrise

Another mate who had one come stock with his 2011 Reign 1 has an interesting issue. The flex in the saddle is enough so that when I sit down hard with my bony butt it bumps the little button the lever pushes on, and down she goes - like the office prankster has "fixed" my chair

Niggles aside, I've been procrastinating about getting one of those for awhile. At the moment, the weight penalty and the cable going to the top (and therefore flapping around very near your back tyre when compressed) have so far helped me resist the temptation! I'll probably weaken at some stage, though.

Yep, I've seen pre-release shots of the KS Lev on Bike Radar. Looks very good. No doubt about it: KS are the quality leaders at the moment, with fewer reliability and none of the excess play issues apparent with most other brands. RS seem to have done a good job on theirs.

Just waiting for price on the Lev to come down to something more reasonable.

Yes, I must admit, I don’t know the enhancement this feature in having an adjustable seatpost has on a MTB. Is it to go down when you’re bombing a descent? Is it suspension? Added suspension to your dually?

Marx wrote:Yes, I must admit, I don’t know the enhancement this feature in having an adjustable seatpost has on a MTB. Is it to go down when you’re bombing a descent? Is it suspension? Added suspension to your dually?

It's the first one. But it is taking me a bit to get used to haveing the seat dropped on descents again.

When I first satrted MTB I used to drop my seatpost for steep, long descents, I stopped doing that after a short while. I think I'd find something like this annoying, on real steep descents I rest my chest on the seat so it comes in handy being up high. I'd give this a miss myself.

Bentnose wrote:When I first satrted MTB I used to drop my seatpost for steep, long descents, I stopped doing that after a short while. I think I'd find something like this annoying, on real steep descents I rest my chest on the seat so it comes in handy being up high. I'd give this a miss myself.

LOL.

Seriously? Chest on seat? Cannot fathom how you could descend with any pace or have any range of control in that circumstance.

Yeah that much is given but if your chest is actually resting on the seat, that will be giving up a lot of control and considerably slowing the time it takes to react to trail features . One direction change or square edged roll downand that'd be seriously pushing control. Weight back and low over a dropped seat, room to move the bike side to side and up and down, head up and scanning the roll out in a more natural position, that's the way to fly.

Last edited by floody on Sun Jan 13, 2013 7:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not resting full weight with my chest, just very far back with the chest hovering above the seat, probably could have worded it better, long steep descent it is, can't really turn too much like this. On a real steep twisty descent it would be bum back chest up, yes a dropper post would make these situations easier but I tend to be so far ahead of my mates on the descents that I don't need any extra assistance. Dropping the seat post would inhibit THE FLOW.

Bentnose wrote:Not resting full weight with my chest, just very far back with the chest hovering above the seat, probably could have worded it better, long steep descent it is, can't really turn too much like this. On a real steep twisty descent it would be bum back chest up, yes a dropper post would make these situations easier but I tend to be so far ahead of my mates on the descents that I don't need any extra assistance. Dropping the seat post would inhibit THE FLOW.

Well, this bloke's practically doing it, Bentnose - AND TURNING!

He says "It is EXTEMELY IMPORTANT that you remain centered and balanced on the bicycle in steep terrain, and this means having ALL of your weight on our feet. Not 50% on your hands, and 50% on your feet, not 70/30 … ALL of your weight needs to be on your feet."

As a card-carrying member of the Coward's Association, I'm walking this one!

If the seat was 5" higher his body would be correspondingly higher and his back more horizontal, making it harder to control the bike, harder to see, and easier to OTB. Which is my point, droppers let you get into a better position descending.

PPS if he isn't about to either pivot around on the front wheel or flick/slide the rear, with all his weight hanging back and inside the near vertical bike, he is definitely about to understeer into the fence.

I went out riding with a group of less experienced riders the other day and found some of them dropping their seats for descents I didn't even blink at. I remember when I first started out I was in a similar position, but I've been racing MTB XC and some downhill for over 20 years now and just don't feel the need to drop the seat. I used to race downhill with a permanently dropped seat, though a downhill course and the average XC downhill are two very different things. I would only feel the need to drop a seat if I was doing the big drops and jumps that are on the average downhill course, but I no longer have the bike or body that could handle that sort of stuff. Of course if you're all doing this sort of stuff go right ahead and slam it.

My CX bike is set up exactly the same saddle and bar height as my road bike... don't seem to have any difficulty getting way off the back, chest does rest on the saddle sometimes. But then in the mud we race in "control" is not exactly what I would use especially with 32mm tyres!... more like point in the right direction and hope for the best. But season has just finished and I didn't come off once .For descents I wouldn't bother dropping my saddle, if however I was spending a lot of time in the air then I could certainly see a post like that being handy... airtime on a cross country style bike with saddle right up usually ends up with me biting the dirt sooner rather than later .

floody wrote:PPS if he isn't about to either pivot around on the front wheel or flick/slide the rear, with all his weight hanging back and inside the near vertical bike, he is definitely about to understeer into the fence.

Looks to me like he's just about to lift the rear wheel for the pivot on the front, methinks he's gonna use the use the fence to stop the rear swinging past the exit line...

...whatever the road rules, self-preservation is the absolute priority for a cyclist when mixing it with motorised traffic.London Boy 29/12/2011

Who is online

About the Australian Cycling Forums

The largest cycling discussion forum in Australia for all things bike; from new riders to seasoned bike nuts, the Australian Cycling Forums are a welcoming community where you can ask questions and talk about the type of bikes and cycling topics you like.